


Father Knows Best

by CassiaBaneberry, Mokulule



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst and Feels, Brainwashing, Creepy Vlad, Danno - Freeform, Gen, Ghost Powers, Ghosts, Half-Ghost, Missing Persons, Vlad is seriously a weirdo, You are one seriously crazed up fruit loop, ghost boy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2020-12-14 03:03:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21008636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassiaBaneberry/pseuds/CassiaBaneberry, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mokulule/pseuds/Mokulule
Summary: Danny Phantom is captured by Vlad... again. This time, Danny might not make it our unscathed.





	1. Captured

Danny woke suddenly, white light blinding him. He was freezing, and he ached all over.

He tried to move to relive some of the pain in his back, but found that his hands were shackled down by his sides, making it impossible.

_ Where am I? _

He couldn’t think, much less begin to remember what had happened or how he had gotten there. 

He tried to turn intangible, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t. That was when he started to panic. He tugged at his restraints, though he knew full well that would do absolutely nothing.

Whoever this was, they knew what they were doing. That thought made him nervous. His parents were idiots most days, but he had to admit that they knew what they were doing some of the time. 

Had they captured him? Were they going to perform experiments on him? Dissect him like a frog in a biology classroom?

He was going to be sick. 

“Daniel! You’re awake!” 

Danny’s thoughts were broken by Vlad Masters’ voice, and all of his fears melted away, turning into annoyance.

“Oh, it's you.” He smirked, lifting his head slightly to look at his father’s ex best friend in the eye. 

“Oh don’t sound so excited.” Vlad frowned. He was in his usual black suit, his silver hair tied back. Everything about him screamed creep.

“What is it now? Did you bring me here so you could whine about how much my mom hates you? How much of an idiot my dad is?” Danny asked. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

Vlad bristled. “Don’t be smart with me boy!” He walked over, his face casting a shadow over Danny. 

Danny had been in situations like this many times, the worst being when Vlad had tortured him trying to get DNA so he could clone him. He shuddered at the thought. 

“It seems that my last endeavor to clone you failed rather horribly. Of course, such is the nature of enterprise.” He shrugged as if it were just another failed business deal. As if he hadn’t put Danny through hell in the process.

Before that, Vlad had merely been a nuisance. Hitting on his mom, trying to kill his dad. But Danny defeated him easily enough. Now, however, it was different. He had finally seen what Vlad was capable of. 

“I have decided to try a new tactic.”

Danny’s panic grew. What else could he possibly do?

Masters walked out of his line of sight, moving things around and typing at a computer.

Danny squinted, the bright light never ceasing. “Well? Are you going to enlighten me?”

Danny heard him laugh. “If you insist Daniel.” He reappeared again. “Since cloning you didn’t work, I’ve decided to… alter your memories a bit. Lets just say, when you wake up, you’ll be much happier to see me.”

Danny’s blood ran cold. “You are one seriously crazed up fruit loop.” He said, trying and failing to sound confident. As if he wasn’t in imminent danger of having his mind wiped.

“That’s becoming a little tired, don’t you think.” Vlad frowned, his hands folded behind his back. 

“It’s true.”

“Yes well, we’ll see what you think after we’re finished.”

He disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with two small wires tipped with a little metal circle. He stuck then to either side of Danny’s head, white hair falling into his eyes. 

“Vlad, you’re making a mistake. Just imagine what my mom would think.” 

“That won’t work on me Daniel. Once I have you as my son, Maddie will all but crawl to me. Then we’ll be a family.”

Daniel almost gagged at the thought. He started to struggle, testing all of his powers but none of them worked. 

“Let me go!” He yelled.

Vlad only smiled, making sure the wires were secure against his temples. 

“Don’t worry. It will all be over soon my boy.”

  
  



	2. Dad?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny wakes up, not being able to remember much of anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know this took WAY too long to update, but I was finding it hard to find inspiration. But, with a little help from my friend Mokulule, I actually have ideas now! So hopefully I will be able to update every couple of weeks! Anyway, enjoy!

There was a frantic knocking at the door. Sam had been dreading this for days. It had been exactly fifty hours since Danny had gone missing and she knew it was only a matter of time before Jazz came looking.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were content thinking that their son had gone camping with Tucker, but in reality, Tucker was sitting right next to her. Honestly, she didn't know how Danny's parents hadn't seen through the lie. Tucker never did anything remotely outdoors-y.

Tucker looked as bad as Sam probably did. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and his clothes were disheveled. He also smelled _ bad, _but Sam wasn’t going to mention it. She probably smelled like hot garbage too.

The two looked at each other. The knocking came again, louder this time. 

“I know you’re in there! My parent’s may be idiots but I’m not!”

Sam flinched, slowly rising to her feet and opening the door. 

Jazz looked bad. Her hair was a mess and her mascara was smudged under her eyes so that she looked like a deranged raccoon.

She slammed the door shut behind her, taking a moment to look both of them in the eye.

“Where’s Danny?”

* * *

Danny woke to a splitting headache. It was difficult to open his eyes. All of his limbs were numb which made for an incredibly unsettling experience. He was lying on something soft, which only made the aching in his body more pronounced. 

_ What happened? _

He was unable to pull himself up no matter how hard he tried. What was worse, he couldn’t even see. The room was dark and stiflingly warm. He tried to wiggle his fingers and toes, only able to twitch them.

Suddenly the door opened, flooding the room with bright yellow light. Danny’s heart quickened, trying so hard to move his sluggish limbs. “Daniel! You’re awake!” 

His voice was strangely familiar. His head pounded even harder, threatening to split his skull in two. He managed to get his arms awake, but his legs still felt like dead weight. He instinctively threw his tingling arms over his head, expecting the worst.

The man rushed to his side, sitting down on the bed and putting a hand on his shoulder. “Thank God you’re okay!”

“What? Who are you?” Danny asked, slowly, lowering his arms. “How do you know my name?” He was so confused. He couldn’t remember anything. He tried to move, to put some distance between himself and this unsettling man.

“Danny what are you doing? It’s me!” The man said, his face had worry written all over it.

Danny focused on the man’s voice, trying to figure out why he was so familiar.

His face was painted with worry, but his dark suit was without a wrinkle and his white hair was pulled back into an immaculate ponytail. 

_ Well son, you’re doing much better! _

It was the same voice...

Suddenly something clicked in his foggy mind. “Dad…?”

The man, no, his father, smiled wide, his white teeth glinting in the light from the hallway. 

“Oh Daniel I was so worried. You said you weren’t feeling well at dinner and then just collapsed! The doctor said it was probably overexertion. You’ve always been...frail.”

He looked so worried. It made Danny feel almost guilty.

“I-I don’t-”

“Don’t worry my boy, it’s quite normal for you not to remember much just yet. The doctor assures me everything will come back in a few days.” He said, patting Danny’s hand.

“Oh.” Danny said. His head hurt, but not as bad now. “Sorry for worrying you.” 

“That’s quite alright son. Just be more careful okay? I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.” Vlad pat his shoulder gently, his expression pained, as if he thought of it a bit too often. 

_ Just how sick was he? _

“Get some rest okay?”

Danny nodded, running his fingers through his hair. His hands were shaking.

His father rose and walked to the door before turning back. “Oh and one more thing.”

Danny looked at him lowering his hand, “Yeah?” 

Vlad smiled, “I love you son.”


	3. Little Badger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny still can't remember anything. Jazz, Tucker and Sam team up to find her brother.

Sam could not get the words to come. What was she supposed to tell her? That her brother is missing and they can’t find him? That he is most likely a puddle of ectoplasm somewhere? 

_ No. _ She couldn’t think like that. She had to tell Jazz so she could help. She had the right to know.

Jazz was staring at her as if _ she _had hurt Danny and it made her insides squirm with even more guilt.

“Jazz… Danny he… um,” Sam whispered, trying to think of some way of breaking the news softly.

“We can’t find him.” Came a voice from beside her.

Tucker had spoken for the first time in about four hours, looking up at Jazz sadly. 

“He went off to look for clues about some stupid ghost we were after and he hasn’t come back. I can’t reach him. Not from his phone or his headset.”

This admission seemed to pain Tucker most of all. His technology had failed.

“I can’t even locate him from the chip I stashed in his suit a while back. I just…” He trailed off, putting his head in his hands.

Jazz was stiff, her face placid. 

Sam stood up. “We’re going to find him. We have to.”

Jazz looked at Sam as if she was a stranger. “No. _ I’m _ going to find my brother. He could be hurt or worse and I am responsible for him.”

Sam sat down again. There was no point in arguing. “At least let us help. We have resources you don’t.”

Jazz glared at them for a second. “Fine. What _ exactly _ was Danny going after?” Her voice was like ice. 

* * *

  
  


Danny still couldn’t remember much of anything. He had woken up to sunlight streaming through a crack in the curtains. His head still hurt, but not nearly as bad now. It was then that he really had a chance to look around his bedroom. 

It was all so familiar, but at the same time not at all. Had he hit his head when he had fainted at dinner? His father had forgotten to explain all that.

The walls were a dark blue, decorated with all sorts of movie and video game posters. The biggest one featured the NASA logo set on a still of space. 

Danny rose from his bed, his bare feet cold against the wood floor. A computer sat on the desk and next to it, a large messy pile of video games.

He walked over, a little shaky from laying down so long, and booted up the computer. 

The background was a picture of himself and his father, grinning from ear to ear. When was that picture taken? He hated that he couldn’t remember. 

He scanned the screen for the internet browser, quickly finding it and clicking it. However, instead of the normal browser screen, it showed a little dinosaur and an error message. 

_ No Internet _

_ Try: _

  * _Checking the network cables, modem, and router_
  * Reconnecting to WiFi

Danny frowned. He went to the computer’s settings and looked at the list of Wifi connections. They were all locked. 

_ Weird. _ He would just have to ask his dad for the password later. It must have just randomly disconnected. 

The home screen was covered in shortcuts for various video games, almost all of them needing wifi to play, otherwise they would be boring. He booted one up. It was a first person shooter with a mediocre story. On the home screen there was a button that said _ Continue _.

“Good morning Daniel! How long have you been up?”

Danny jumped, spinning around to face his father. He hadn’t heard the door open.

“Oh! Only a few minutes.” He said rubbing the back of his neck. “While you’re here, I was wondering if you could give me the wifi password? The computer must have spazzed out.” 

His father frowned, worry instantly overtaking his features. Danny couldn’t help the sudden guilt curling in his stomach, what had he said? 

“What’s wrong?”

“Daniel, your computer was never connected to the internet...”

His father half turned away, a hand rubbing his temple. There was an almost frustrated downturn to his lips. “You still don’t remember, the doctor assured me that you would be okay…” He covered his mouth with his hand. He looked as if he were about to cry.

Without even thinking, Danny stepped forward, hand reaching out to comfort his father, but stopping just short of his sleeve. He was unsure of what to do. What was even okay? Hesitantly he touched the immaculate suit sleeve. 

He swallowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He didn’t know what else to say. 

“Oh Little Badger,” His father turned to face him and drew him into his arms. He smelled strongly of some spicy cologne and beneath that the faintest hint of pineapple. It smelled… familiar, comforting. 

They pulled away, his father holding him at an arm's length. He ruffled Danny’s black hair. “I’m sure you’ll remember everything with time.”

Danny smiled, but inside he felt a pit of guilt in his stomach. _ What if he didn’t? _

Vlad turned towards the door. “Just in case, I’m having the doctor come back tomorrow.” He paused at the door, turning back to face him with a warm smile. “Breakfast will be ready soon. Get dressed and come down when you’re ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Mokulule and Zoryany for all the help on this chapter. Go read their stuff! I'd also like to thank everyone who's shown interest in this story and have urged me to continue it!


	4. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny has breakfast with his father. Meanwhile Sam, Tucker and Jazz start to look for Danny.

Sam, Tucker and Jazz stayed up late that night, managing to fend off the Fenton’s worries with a simple text that Jazz had decided to go camping with Danny and Tucker and that the trip had been extended a week. 

To anyone who really knew Jazz it was a poor excuse, but her parents tended to disregard suspicious behavior in favor of the thought that Jazz and Danny were getting along. 

Tucker explained that they had been chasing a rather small-time ghost that had terrorized a group of their schoolmates in the park. Danny had been gaining on the ghost when his signal had gone dark.

“Could it be Skulker?” Jazz asked. She had only heard about this particular ghost from Danny, but according to his description this fit his M.O. 

“Maybe. I just don’t know how we can be sure.” Sam said, rubbing her red eyes. She looked like she hadn’t gotten sleep in a very long time. “I just don’t know where to start.”

“Well let’s start there. It’s the best lead we’ve got.” Jazz said determinedly.

Tucker sighed and booted up his computer. “We put a tracker in his suit a while back. I’ll see where he ended up.”

Jazz sat on the bed with a sigh, her eyes unfocused staring at a picture of Sam, Danny and Tucker at the fair last summer. She felt like she had been hit by a truck. Her whole body ached and her throat constantly felt as if there was something lodged in it. 

_ Where are you Danny? _

Sam put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find him. We have to.” 

Jazz knew that Sam was saying it for her own benefit as much as her’s.

* * *

Danny waited a minute before following his father downstairs. It all just felt so strangely...formal. Maybe it was just his immaculate black suit or the eloquent nature of his voice. Danny didn’t know how to behave.

He certainly didn’t know what to expect from a meal with him. He wished so hard that he could remember everything so all this painful awkwardness between them would be over, but no matter what he did, he still remembered absolutely nothing. Or at least nothing of any importance.

He remembered strange things like a silky black ponytail, and the simple fact that his father  _ loved  _ fudge. Danny grinned to himself in triumph. Finally, he’d remembered  _ something _ about his dad. Maybe he would surprise him with some later.

Danny found his way to the end of the hall where a wide staircase lined with green and gold carpet led to the house’s main foyer. 

This place was  _ huge _ . The walls were stone and lined with Jerseys, footballs and helmets, all decked out in green and gold. The whole place put the NFL Hall of Fame to shame. 

“He’s a Packers fanatic.” Danny said with a laugh. This was certainly not what he was expecting from such a well-dressed man. 

“Oh Daniel, Fanatic is such a negative word.”

Danny jumped, spinning around to see his father standing in the entrance to what had to be the dining room. “Oh! Uh sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad by it! I was just surprised, that’s all.” He said, waving his hands awkwardly.

His father chucked. “It’s quite alright my boy. Believe it or not, you used to go to your fair share of games with me when you were younger.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. He had never really paid any attention to football. Or at least he didn’t think he did. 

His father laughed, ushering him towards the dining room. “You look hungry. Lets eat.”

Danny walked into the dining room, baffled by the height of the ceiling and the length of the table. It had to seat at least twenty, probably more. On one end of it there were two places set and an array of cheeses, fruits and a plate piled high with toast. 

Danny’s mouth watered. But he couldn’t help but wonder, who needed all this space for just two people. He had learned pretty quickly that his father was rich, but didn’t he get lonely?

It made him wonder…

“Hey dad?” He asked tentatively, glancing at his father. 

“Yes son?” His Father asked, walking towards the head of the table and sitting down. He unfolded a napkin and carefully set it on his lap. He looked up at Danny expectantly.

Danny awkwardly walked over and took his place, staring at all the food. “Is my mom… is she dead?” He kept his eyes on a small stain on the white table cloth. It was oddly comforting to know  _ everything  _ wasn’t immaculate. He knew that this was a risky question and he most likely wouldn’t like the answer. But he felt awful not being able to remember his own mother.

His father sputtered for a moment, his composure broken. He obviously hadn’t expected a question like this. 

“Y-Your mother… yes well your mother…” He seemed to be having trouble forming words. Danny looked up at him, but his father was looking away now.

“I-It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it!” Danny said quickly. “I’m sure I’ll remember soon.”

His father--- It occurred to him now that he didn’t even know his name--- sighed and smoothed his hair, something Danny noticed he did when he was upset. 

“Let’s just say your mother and I had our disagreements. She left us when you were six. I haven’t heard from her since.”

Danny instantly regretted asking. He could see the pain in his dad’s eyes as he said it. He even heard his voice quiver. 

“Oh.” Was all he could say. He didn’t exactly feel sad. How could he feel anything for someone he never knew. But he did know that his mother had hurt his father deeply and that was enough to send a pang through his chest. 

His father cleared his throat. “Let’s eat.” He dished some fruit onto his plate and took a piece of toast. Danny didn’t move right away, but after a moment he took an apple and some grapes from one of the bowls.

They ate in relative silence, his dad occasionally breaking it to tell him his plans for the day, that he would have to be in his office for a few hours and that there was always food in the kitchen if he was hungry. There was even a theater down the hall. 

Danny simply nodded, taking occasional bites from his apple. All in all it was an okay breakfast, nothing tried to eat him - wait where did that thought come from?! Of course nothing tried to eat him. That would be crazy. Still he eyed the gruyère with eyes narrowed in suspicion, setting his apple down. 

“Is something the matter Daniel?” 

Danny jumped half a foot in the air, eyes snapping to his father at the other end of the long table. He had succeeded in worrying his father again. “No, I’m sorry.” He looked down at his plate, poked at a grape. 

His father sighed. “If you’re no longer hungry, you may leave the table.”

Danny nodded, setting his half finished apple onto the plate and walking out of the dining room. Now if he could remember his way back to his room he would be okay.

* * *

  
  
Vlad Plasmius paced his office. This wasn’t right. Danny should have remembered more than this by now. He had only meant to alter his memories, not erase them.

A jolt of fear went through him. What happened if Danny never regained his memory? He had hoped for the perfect, ghost powered son, but instead he was just a confused boy with absolutely no knowledge of the power he possessed. 

He stopped pacing and slammed his hands on his desk, pink energy flaring around his hand. This is not how it was supposed to go. A small pang of guilt joined the fear in his stomach.

For all of Daniel Fenton’s faults, he was a  _ child _ . It was almost easy to forget. He had so much responsibility, he was so  _ noble _ . Danny shared that particular quality with his mother. 

It infuriated him that Jack of all people not only stole the love of his life, but also a son that was so smart, so powerful. 

Vlad rubbed his temple and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He wouldn’t get anywhere if he was blinded by anger. He would just wait a few more days, try to jog the boy’s memory a bit. In the meantime, he would start to look for a fix. Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer to get out! I was moving to a new house this week and so packing took up a lot of my time! Hope y'all like this chapter! The next one should be up much sooner! As always, thanks to Mokulule for being my Beta!


End file.
